Honeywell YTH8320ZW - ModeStatus when HeatOn and EngerySavingsMode

[wilme2]

In UI5, the Honeywell YTH8320ZW - ModeStatus was what the documentation said it was supposed to be - a single variable to indicate whether the thermostat was set to Heat, Cool, Auto, or Off.  There was a separate variable for EnergyModeStatus.

http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Luup_UPnP_Variables_and_Actions#HVAC_UserOperatingMode1
http://wiki.micasaverde.com/index.php/Luup_Devices#urn:upnp-org:serviceId:HVAC_UserOperatingMode1_--_ModeStatus

Unforunately in UI7, if while in Heat you also set to Energy Saving, the ModeStatus returns "EconomyHeatOn" instead of "HeatOn"  The funny thing is if you do this in the GUI - set to Heat first, then Energy, the GUI then stops showing the thermostat in Heat  - no mode is selected since the ModeStatus isn't one of the items in the GUI.

Has anyone found a way around this?  I need the ModeStatus variable without the "Economy" so I can keep thermostats on a zoned system in sync.  I need to make sure one can't be set to Heat while the other is set to Cool.   One might legitimately be in Energy while the other one isn't, so I don't want to effectively sync both ModeStatus and EnergyModeStatus when I should not have to do so.

Here is my UI5 PLEG logic:  http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,30792.msg221170.html#msg221170

[wilme2]

I attempted to eliminate the EconomyHeatOn option from the S_HVAC_UserOperatingMode1.xml file, but no impact...

[wilme2]

Vera support tells me to just deal with it...

Very frustrating we don't have more control over the function of devices like this...

[rigpapa]

Can you not just add another set of conditions in PLEG to distinguish between the modes and set the correct available mode whether the Honeywell says HeatOn or EconomyHeatOn? This makes for a few more conditions, but I think it's well within PLEG's capability to do this. Perhaps @RichardTSchaefer or another lurking PLEGspert^TM could chime in on specific syntax.

[wilme2]

Can you not just add another set of conditions in PLEG to distinguish between the modes and set the correct available mode whether the Honeywell says HeatOn or EconomyHeatOn? This makes for a few more conditions, but I think it's well within PLEG's capability to do this. Perhaps @RichardTSchaefer or another lurking PLEGspert^TM could chime in on specific syntax.

Yeah...  I just hate how Vera can't do the same thing the same way twice, ever.

I will post my PLEG logic here when finished in case it saves time for someone else...

[rigpapa]

Thermostats in particular are a bit of nightmare (I maintain two thermostat plugins, so I have lots of desk-shaped flat spots on my forehead). UPnP has one set of ideas about how they should work, which Vera loosely follows, but the implementation specifics vary widely as Vera's own interpretation vs that of the many plugins shows. The UI7 interface code itself is littered with exceptions and inconsistent tests for device types and capabilities. It looks like a series of kludges to get specific things working, and no apparent effort to step back and look at the 50,000ft view and refactor. I hope they straighten it out in UI8.

[wilme2]

Can you not just add another set of conditions in PLEG to distinguish between the modes and set the correct available mode whether the Honeywell says HeatOn or EconomyHeatOn? This makes for a few more conditions, but I think it's well within PLEG's capability to do this. Perhaps @RichardTSchaefer or another lurking PLEGspert^TM could chime in on specific syntax.

So I finally wrote the PLEG yesterday that allows me to keep the Thermostats synced, essentially ignoring "EconomyHeatOn".  I turned to PLEG Basics for inspiration, and realized I could use the if-then-else functionality.  So in ModeStatus as SecondFloorModeStatusRaw, then update to a clean SecondFloorModeStatus via the condition:

      (SecondFloorModeStatusRaw eq "EconomyHeatOn") ? "HeatOn" : SecondFloorModeStatusRaw